It was shower day for the inmates in the Special management Unit. As usual the inmates receive three showers a week. The only time they are not allowed to shower is if they act out or refused to be stripped searched before leaving their cell to be escorted to the shower in the proper restraints. Some Institutions have a hands off policy, this means everything the inmate needs is in an area where he doesn’t need to be restrained. At this institution inmates were restrained according to their custody level. The higher the inmate’s custody level, the more restraints he had.

I always had problems with this one inmate that thought it was against his Islamic belief to be stripped searched. We strip search these inmates to ensure they have no weapons on them, so the inmate will not be moved unless he is searched. Some officers do let certain inmates get away with certain privileges; this only makes it harder for the officers trying to do their job. Also The Institution does have a policy allowing Muslims certain rights, but not being stripped searched is not one of them.

Since this particular inmate refused to be searched I went on to the next cell and continued with the showers. It was not long until the dorm Lieutenant made his daily rounds. He spoke with this inmate an allowed him to shower without a search. The Lieutenant even pulled the inmate out of the cell himself and escorted him to the shower cell. I knew right then there would be trouble.

I was the dorm sergeant and my two officers followed my every lead without question, but when my supervisor steps in without my knowledge and approval the end result is never good.

We had 8 showers for 48 inmates in this dorm so every inmate had fifteen minute to shower before I would start shutting off their water.

The inmate had two minutes left before his shower time was to be over. The Lieutenant had already left the dorm and I knew he left me to deal with this situation. I gave the two-minute warning. Several minutes went by before I finally turned his water off and gave him a directive to come out of the shower, but the inmate still refused.

After making sure all the other showers was empty and the rest of the dorm was locked down I prepared my officer for the cell extraction. I knew all of us could not fit in the shower together so I instructed one of my officers to video tape everything as policy states and the second man was to be ready.

I was not going to let my officers enter the shower alone. This was my job. If anyone was going to get hurt it was I. I couldn’t live with myself if I allowed one of my men to get hurt on my account.

The inmates cell was already stripped. He had nothing but a blanket waiting in his cell. I went to the shower one last time and ordered the inmate to the door; with a wet towel tide around his face for protection the inmate refused my orders. I didn’t have enough room for a shield in the shower so all I had on was my helmet and body vest.

The inmate and I met head-on like two sumo wrestlers. I drove him to the floor and the free officer helps me restrain the inmate with hand –cuffs and leg irons.

We pulled the inmate in the hallway, laying him face down in the floor to double-check his restraints. He had no more fight left in him. We escorted the inmate back to his cell safely and secured his door. The inmate end up with a black eye and bruised back. I did pull a muscle in my shoulder when my officer shoved me into the wall during the fight, but those things happen.

The inmate received additional time in lock-up and lost his telephone privilege.

After the incident I spoke with my supervisor on what instigated the incident and how important teamwork is in just a hostile environment.

The inmate was released from prison about a year later only to shortly return shortly after his release for robbery.